Panel Oks Aids Drug

January 17, 1987

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A government advisory committee Friday recommended the Food and Drug Administration approve what would be the first drug generally available to doctors for treatment of AIDS. The FDA must still approve it.

The drug is AZT or azidothymidine. It is not a cure for AIDS, although it appears to relieve symptoms in some cases.

Burroughs Wellcome Co., the drug manufacturer, outlined a procedure whereby any physicians who wanted to prescribe AZT would send a statement to an evaluating committee that would document the need for a patient to receive the drug.

IRS: PAY UP, KID

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Internal Revenue Service seized a 10-year-old girl`s $694 bank account for back taxes -- her father`s.

The IRS says it grabbed the account because Shannon Burns`s father, Kevin Burns, owes $1,000 in back taxes. But it gave back the money Friday after the father was able to prove it was really the girl`s account, IRS spokesman Chips Maurer said.

Shannon Burns, who earns her money by collecting aluminum cans and doing her chores, was mightily annoyed. ``They took it. The IRS took my money,`` she said.

VA LOWERS MORTGAGE RATE

WASHINGTON -- The Veterans Administration said Friday it is lowering its maximum home loan interest rate by a half-point to 8.5 percent -- the lowest it has been since February 1978 -- effective Monday.

The reduction is the eighth in 21 months. The rate has dropped a total of 4.5 percentage points since April 1985.

The new rate means the monthly payment for principal and interest on a new VA loan of $70,000 will drop $25 to $538.24, the administration said. One year ago, the monthly payment on the same loan would have been $640.32.

U.S., MONGOLIA SEEK TIES

WASHINGTON -- The State Department said Friday the United States is moving toward an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia, an Asian ally of the Soviet Union.

The United States has never had relations with Mongolia, which shares long borders with both the Soviet Union and China. The country, which gained independence from China in 1945, discourages foreign visitors and only three non-communist countries have embassies there -- Britain, India and Japan.